The break-off group of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), 'The Democrats', have submitted their signatures to the Election Commission today to form a political party.
Last month, the main-ruling party saw an exodus of 13 of its MPs, along with their supporters who aligned with Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, to create their own political party. The Elections Commission granted them permission to form a party on May 24, and the party began collecting membership signatures the same day.
Speaking to reporters after submitting the registration documents, Henveiru West MP and party founder Hassan Latheef said 3,560 forms had been submitted to register The Democrats. He asserted that there would be no issues with the submitted forms.
Hassan Latheef said the Election Commission had granted them permission to form the party on the 24th of last month. He emphasized that the forms had been duly completed and expressed the party's request to expedite the verification process for the membership forms.
On why a new political party was being formed, Hassan Latheef had earlier said he left the MDP because there were unsatisfactory characteristics within the party. There is no hope that those characteristics will be corrected, prompting the formation of a new party, he had said.
The Democrats have announced they would field a candidate for the upcoming presidential election. It is speculated that their candidate would be President Nasheed, who still remains in MDP.
